Julius witt



(No Model.) a sheets-sheet a. -l

J. WITT.

LOCK.

No. 499,771. Patented June 20, 1893.

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JULIUS WITT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,771, dated J' une 20, 1898. Application tiled January 3l, 1893 Serial No. 460,410. (No model.)

T al@ whom t may concern,.-

Be 1t known that I, J ULIUS I/VITT, of Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and bridged recess to provide wards to receive.

. the respective members of the `locking bolt whereby when said members enter the wards the bridge is interposed between them and the forcing `back thereof by an instrument inserted between the striker and the face of the lock is prevented. The outer sides of the two members of the locking bolt are normally parallel to each other and at right angles to the face of the striker plate.

In carrying out my invention I preferably divide the end of the bolt vertically and one of its members is hereinafter designated as a Aspring controlled pivoted .guard piece which is normally held in a position to prevent the passage of an instrument to the other member, which I call the bolt. This guard plate is pivoted to the bolt and its controlling spring has a bearing thereon, the guard piece being adapted, when impinged by the striking plate, to turn on its pivot to permit it to pass, and the striking plate being provided with a bridged recess into the wards of which the guard and bolt enter after being moved by the impingement of the striking plate. The striking plate has two apertures therein which are divided by a bridge, the aperture on one side of the bridge being adapted to re-` ceive the nose of the bolt and the other the end of the guard while the bridge is between the guard plate and bolt when the door is closed, so that should an instrument be inserted for the purpose of forcing back the guard the bridge will engage the guard and prevent its swinging on its pivot or being forced back while the door is closed. The bolt is self-operating in closing the door, the guard being adapted to swing on its pivot toward the bolt when the guard engages the end of the striker plate until it is brought into proper position to enter its ward.

The invention is applicable to various forms of locks, the chief change in construction being in the striking plate. I have shown the invention as applied to an ordinary mortise lock and also to a latch.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the mortise lock, the door and jamb being in section. Fig. 2 is a broken sectional view transversely through a portion of the lock case and showing the bolt, guard plate and its controlling spring in plan view. Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the interior parts of the lock and parts of the face being broken away to show the guard plate and itsl spring. Fig. 4. is a sectional detail of the bolt, guard and striking plate. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the face of the lock showing the nose of the bolt and guard. Fig. 6 is a broken elevation of the striking plate. Fig.

7 is a side elevation of an ordinary latch having my guard applied thereto; and Fig. 8is an edge view of the same showing it applied to the door, the striking plate, door and jamb being in section.

In the drawings 9 represents the lock ease and 10 the bolt whose actuating mechanism may be of any approved form. The bolt may also be of the usual form, except that its nose is divided vertically or split as best seen in Figs. 2 and 4. The under side of the nose of the bolt may be notched as at 11, but this is unimportant.

12 represents the pivoted guard which as shown is' provided4 with the rearwardly eX- tending lugs which receive the pivots 18 and also with the rearwardly extending arms 14- upon which bear the ends of the controlling spring 15, the latter being coiled about the stud 16 which is carried by the shank of bolt 10. The form of the spring may be varied, and may be coiled about the pivots of the guard. Its purpose is to normally hold the guard parallel with the shank of the bolt.

17 represents the striker plate, a face view of which as applied to a mortise lock is shown in Fig. 6. This striking plate has the ward IOO 18 to receive the n ose of the bolt and a ward 19 to receive the end of the guard plate 12. These wards are separat-ed by the bridge 20 which, when the door is closed, is interposed between the guard and bolt. The inner face of the guard is preferably serrated, as clearly shown at 12 in Fig. 4, and the purpose of these serrations is to adapt the guard to engage the edge of the bridge 2O so as to pre- Vent the guard being forced in against the tension of the spring by an instrument inserted between the face of the lock and the striker plate. The two members of the bolt present straight surfaces transversely to the crevices between the door and the striker plate. These surfaces therefore do not afford any opportunity for engagement of an opening instrument as would a beveled or inclined surface, and this feature of construction affords additional protection against forcing the lock.

The operation of the device above described will be apparent. When the door carrying the striker plate 17 is closed, said plate will first engage the guard 12, rocking it on its pivot as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, until its front edge enters the notch 1l in bolt 10. When the door comes in line with the jamb the bolt and guard will be projected into their respective wards by their springs and the door will thus be securely locked and its opening prevented except by the application of a proper key.

The application of the invention to a latch is shown in Fig. 7, and its application to other forms of locks will be obvious to a skilled mechanic.

It is obvious that the structural details above described may be considerably varied without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not therefore intend to limit myself to the precise construction above described. For example, the manner of pivoting the guard member to the bolt may be varied, the armsla maybe omitted and various other details of construction changed to adapt the device to different kinds of locksl and to various conditions.

l. A safety lock comprising a divided or split bolt having one of its members pivotally connected to the other and controlled by a suitable spring normally tending to hold the members parallel to each other and astriker plate having a bridged recess providing wards adapted to receive the two parts of the divided bolt, substantially as described.

2. A safety lock comprising a locking bolt and a spring actuated guard pivotally mounted on the bolt the outer surfaces of the bolt and guard being normally parallel and a striker plate having Wardstherein to receive the guard and bolt and affording a bridge which is interposed between the guard and bolt when the door is locked,substantially as described.

3. A safety lock comprising in combination a bolt, a spring actuated guard pivotally mounted thereon, a striking plate having a bridged recess to provide wards to receive the bolt and guard and the said guard being notched or serrated to adapt it to engage the bridge to prevent forcing back the bolt, substantially as described.

4. A safety lock comprising in combination a reciprocating locking bolt and a spring controlled guard pivotally mounted thereon and normally held parallel to the bolt and at right angles to the striker plate, and a striker plate having a bridged recess providing Wards for the bolt and guard, .the latter being adapted to be rocked on its pivot and the bolt to be forced back upon engagement with the'striker plate in closing the door, substantially as described.

.IULIUS WITT. Witnesses:

C. C. LINTHICUM, N. M. BOND. 

